Editorial: A community invitation to Purdue students

It's great to see when a no-brainer idea - one along the lines of today's Boiler Bridge Bash - turns into reality the first chance it gets.

A year ago, during Greater Lafayette brainstorming sessions about ways to enhance the chances of being what's called a Community of Choice, a frequent suggestion was to tap into Purdue University's annual Boiler Gold Rush.

If Greater Lafayette wants to get the attention of Purdue students and give them a taste of the community beyond campus, why not go for it when those students first get here? And why not get them when they still are somewhat of a captive audience, ready to sample everything offered and not yet bogged down by books and intramurals and figuring out the etiquette of shared living spaces in residence halls?

That brings us to this evening's Boiler Bridge Bash.

Hosted by a number of Greater Lafayette groups and businesses, the event - from 6 to 9 p.m. on the John T. Myers Pedestrian Bridge - extends the incoming student orientation experience into the community.

The message to students: There's more to this place than a quarter-mile radius of the red bricks on campus. Feel free to check it out.

That sort of message is conveyed early and often during Boiler Gold Rush, as freshmen learn the ins and outs of lecture halls, fountain runs and getting from Point A to Point B in time for class. You can see it in the shuttle buses running to Tippecanoe Mall and Walmart or in group leaders dragging new Purdue disciples to the Discount Den at Chauncey Hill Mall for a Den Pop. Why not something similar from the community?

This week, Greater Lafayette Commerce's quality of life council - the one overseeing the recommendations in the consultant's "From Good to Great" plan - held an update meeting. And while progress seems a bit stilted, the effort is there.

If nothing else, the quality of life task serves as a platform for all of the people working in the niche markets - whether bike lanes or businesses, arts or community gardens - to keep at it. The message implied to them: Feel free to blend in by standing out; this community is open to that.

But Boiler Bridge Bash, an obvious idea being put into play, is a smart move and a tangible result of the Community of Choice movement. Here's to more like it.

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Editorial: A community invitation to Purdue students

It's great to see when a no-brainer idea ? one along the lines of today's Boiler Bridge Bash ? turns into reality the first chance it gets.